18 April 2005

Commemoration of 90th anniversary of allied landing at Gallipoli

Auckland City is encouraging Aucklanders to remember and honour those who fought for our country by attending one of the 18 Anzac Day services to be held across the city on Monday 25 April.

ANZAC Day has touched the heart of New Zealanders since the battle at Gallipoli in 1915. This year will be the 90th anniversary of the allies landing at Gallipoli and special activities are happening around the city in commemoration.

The Auckland City-supported Dawn (6am) and 11am services at the Auckland Domain will be Auckland's largest gatherings. About 4,000 to 6,000 people are expected to attend each service, including the Governor General at the Dawn Service and the Mayor of Auckland, Mr Dick Hubbard, at both services.

There are also 16 suburban RSA parades across Auckland city and the Gulf Islands: Avondale, Great Barrier, College Rifles, Grey Lynn, Mt Albert, Mt Eden, Mt Roskill, Mt Wellington/Panmure, Newmarket, Onehunga, Orakei, Otahuhu, Point Chevalier, St Heliers and Waiheke Island.

Please check www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/events/anzac/ or call (09) 379 2020 for more information about ANZAC services in Auckland city, parking tips and road closures.

Aucklanders can also commemorate ANZAC Day at: the Auckland War Memorial Museum which hosts a poignant new exhibition called Bloody Gallipoli. It commemorates the bravery and suffering of about 30,000 Anzac soldiers trapped on a narrow Turkish peninsula between the firing line and the sea. Through photographs, personal diaries, war relics and oral histories, you can trace their journey as they landed at Anzac Cove, living in crowded trenches and bivvies, through to the bloody attack at Chunuk Bair and beyond.

The entire campaign was fought in an area about one-eighth the size of Rangitoto Island. On Anzac Day the museum will be open from 7am to 10am, straight after the 6am dawn service. The civic commemorative service will be held at 11am, and then the museum reopens from noon until 5pm.

For more details visit www.aucklandmuseum.com or phone (09) 306 7067. the unveiling of a memorial cairn (burial mound) for the New Zealand Army’s 3rd Auckland/Northland regiment and a military parade at 9am near the domain grandstand. The memorial cairn is made from concrete and stones that have come all the way from Gallipoli.

The Auckland’s Central City Library which commemorates Anzac Day from 1915-2005 with a second-floor exhibition showing until 1 May. A 1915 hand-drawn map of the trenches at Gallipoli is one of the unique items on show. It shows the area where the final assault for Chunuk Bair was launched on 7 August 1915, costing the lives of 852 New Zealanders. See www.aucklandcitylibraries.com for more information.

"Lest we forget".

ENDS